The 1920’s was a decade where the comfort of fashion started to change. The first world war had ended the previous year and Ruddolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson were Hollywood stars at that time. Men mimicked the style of the fashion-forward Prince Edward of England; and Coco Chanel and Jeanne Lanvin were prominent designers of the decade. Zippers were invented, the first button down shirt was designed, and boys wore bathing suits at the beach for the first time. The bathing suit short was made of wool and was worn with Tshirt tops (to show your chest in public warranted a fine). The favoured women’s hairstyle for most of the decade was a bob cut, which looked dashing under the popular bell-shaped Cloche hat, and many women started wearing make-up.
Throughout the 1920’s there was a gradual simplification of the dress; the ‘flapper dress’ with its shortened hemline and dropped waist which could be made in lighter more economical fabric typified the decade. Hemlines rose to just below the knee and stayed at that length until 1926 before starting to fall. Waistlines dropped until 1923 and didn’t start to rise again until 1928. Simplicity was key to both day and evening wear. Many evening dresses followed the same style as daywear but with more ornate beading, sequins and embroidery. By the end of the decade there was a shift to full length evening gowns.
Tennis was a popular sport for women during this decade, and was also an inspiration for fashion. Another trend emerged with ‘sportswear’ consisting of tea-length skirt, long sleeved blouse with a vest or sweater over the top being acceptable for women.
Fashion designer Coco Chanel invented the ‘little black dress’ and was the first designer to launch her own perfume – the iconic Chanel No 5. Her styles were comfortable and practical, she popularised the flapper dress and the sportwear trend; as well as simplified jewellery consisting of a string of pearls, simple pearl earrings and a signet ring on her right hand. However, fashion designer Jeanne Lanvin was doing this differently. She fostered the ‘robe de style’ dress which had a flexible shape in the bodice of being fitted or straight, and a waistline that dropped to the middle of the hip. Her skirts were fuller and longer and fabric choice was lightweight textiles such as organdie, taffeta, velvet and satin. Lanvin dresses were feminine and romantic.
Fashion is a circle and although the dropped waist dress was first made popular in the 1920’s, it re-emerged again in the 1960’s with a much shorter mini hemline. Within the last 10 years there have also been different styles of dropped waist dresses.
References:
Fads & fashion: from 1920 'til now. (1984, September). Co-Ed, 30, 31+. https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/apps/doc/A3413677/ITOF?u=cqu&sid=ITOF&xid=29674683
Reddy, K. (2018, May 11). Fashion History Timeline 1920-1929. Fashion Institue of Technology, State University of New York. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1920-1929/
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